Robin,
Just finished reading my newly acquired copy of Shek-Pvar w/ Enriched Magick. Your usual excellent work. I do have a couple of questions:
Question One: Regarding multi-level spells, is there any minimum ML required to open the next level spell? It seem that if there isn't, Mages would tend to open the next complexity level as soon as possible in order to prevent loss of ML. At ML 80, opening the next complexity level (w/ MS) gets a new ML of 40. With ML 30, the opening ML would only drop to 15. Although this makes miss-fire more likely, at a higher ML, the mage must make more castings in order to regain his former ML.
Answer One: The only built-in restriction is that mages will eventually want the spell ML developed to some kind of useful level. This is in keeping with our objective of installing no unnecessary rules (GMs can do that themselves :-) In my view, it would, however, be reasonable to require that the mage master a spell (eg. ML80) before upgrading it (thereby requiring a loss of, perhaps, 40 ML points in the upgrade).
Question Two: On Page 14, it states that 2 full days/level are required for research. Under research scheduling, Page 31, the default is 8 hours per level. Do you intend that a full day only results in 4 effective hours of research?
Answer Two: A basic principle of optional rules is that there is some gain for using the detailed system. In this case, you save up to four hours per level. The "quick" rule makes a generous allowance for interruption. It is a bit like saying, "So you think you can put in more than 4 effective hours a day? Show me."
Question Three: Are the OML's the same for fast development, or should they be lower?
Answer Three: The system will work either way. My thought is that the risks involved with Fast Development are a sufficient penalty. There is no pressing need to reduce FD OMLs. However, it would be reasonable to halve OMLs (especially if the PC Shek-Pvar is annoying you). One other consideration is that Fast Research often occurs under difficult conditions... and this has a further negative effect on RTL. If, after reducing RTL to a tiny number, and then overcoming a set of interruptions the character finally opens the spell, he might get a bit peeved to find he has a ML that renders it effectively useless...
JPM, Kansas City